Frustrated

[Momma`Kat]

Alanna, You have me at my wits end.

She will not settle no matter what I do. Feed her, change her, swaddle her, rock her, bounce her, talk to her, sing to her, play with her, snuggle her in bed with me.. Nothing is working, the second I stop.. back to screaming.

I have to put her down, shut the door and let her cry herself to sleep. I hate it. And she will only stay asleep for about 45 minutes at a time.

And I have given up hope of her ever actually enjoying her playmat. She is never "Quiet Alert". Only time she looks around.. is when she is feeding and cant cry cause her mouth is full.

But even that doesnt work, she will ruin her night feeds by crying, she just wont latch on and stay on. I cant force her onto it, she pushes back with her hands and just screams.

She has dropped a centile and a half in the last fortnight. When she has a good feed, she will want to feed every hour, for atleast a half an hour.. and I can still get milk afterward, So I know its there, she just isnt doing it right or something.

I havent slept in days, I have barely eaten, My flat is a tip because I dont have the time or energy to do anything. Im moving abroad on sunday, and I havent packed.

I hate hearing her cry. I want to be able to comfort her and settle her to sleep like i used to..

What happened to the good baby, Who I could cuddle off to sleep, put down at 11pm and sleep through till 7am, then pull into bed with me for a feed, and she would stay settled till 10am so I could lie in. What happened to the baby who would sit in my lap and just watch me and smile to me. Either she hates me.. Or I broke the baby.

 

[Lacey's Mummy]

Has she got a silent reflux?
Charley would never settle and in the end I did controlled crying. It's not nice but sometimes it's the only way. It took 2 weeks to do but in the end he got there and now he loves his cot and will moan to GO to bed! Lol
Also during the day, he'd never let me put him down. I used to cry cos I couldn't do anything! Once he got to about 8-10weeks it got alot easier and now he can spend hours on his playmat. He still doesn't like to be left on his own for long but it's long enough for me to get on with things.
It does get easier I promise!
Good luck with your move x x

 

[frankie707]

Poor you, hopefully she will settle again soon. Sorry no real advice as George is also less settled than when he was first born, I think he just gets overtired quicker than I thought he should. I can't really leave him on his own during the day-spend a lot of time with him in the sling just so I can get stuff done. He seems to be becoming a bit more content over the last couple of days so hopefully alana will be the same. Good luck with your move.

 

[Laura_C]

As the girls have said it will get better, the first weeks are the hardest and once you settle into some kind of routine it definately gets easier. Maybe she needs something to help her settle, have you tried her with a dummy? It was a last resort for me with my daughter but a midwife told me that she also thought it would help so we tried it and it was wonderful! She actually rejected it once she was around 3 months and never bothered with it again, she was able to settle herself after that and has never needed it again. Not long after that I did stop breastfeeding also as she just never seemed satisfied. As soon as she was formula fed she settled straight away, she had been losing weight and was just not content with breastmilk. She was a very hungry baby though. She was sleeping through very soon after also. These were last resorts for me but kept me sane and Grace was much happier.

 

[Laura_C]

We also did controlled crying with Grace and it does work, bloody tough though. We put her in her own room very early on ad although it's worrying it gave Grace the best start with regards to setting a good sleep routine. She has never had sleep problems of any kind, she loves her bed and she is an independent 3 year old now who will ask to go to be when tired. I think what happens is you can both hear each other breathing or you think not breathing in some cases and it unsettled both of you. Again this was a last resort but another mum recommended we did it, I was mortified at first but it really does help with getting them to sleep.

 

[Momma`Kat]

Its disheartnening because we did have a great routine.. and it just went down the loo!
Health Visitor said she is probably having a growth spurt.. And doesnt think she is getting through to the hind milk, which is why she has dropped centiles.

I am honestly thinking about going to formula today, she just wants fed all the time. Ive been swapping boobs all morning, they feel so empty!

Ive tried a dummy, she is having none of it!

 

[Laura_C]

Aww bless her! HV is probably right in that case and she is having a growth spurt, you could maybe top her up with some formula and see if she takes it and it makes a difference? I was advised to not give it in a bottle f I wanted to carry on breastfeeding an just use a little cup thing with like a spout on it so I could could let her take a little at a time. I soon realised she much preferred the formula and just went to bottle feeding. It may just help her through a spurt if she needs a little extra. I hope you find what works for you both honey xxx

 

[Squeakz]

would it not be possible to give her one formula feed a day to let your boobs refill properly?!? x

 

[amyjayne77]

Have you tried expressing a little before a feed so she gets more hind-milk? It might settle her more.

It sounds very like a growth spurt, If she was so good before this.

Hope she settles for you soon xxxx

 

[ShadowWolf]

Growth spurts are a pain in the arse arn't they? Lilly has been very good but in the last 2 weeks she has been a little deamon in the evenings and I don't have clue what is wrong either. I clean her, feed her, bathe her and try to get her to sleep but she has none of it, just spends about 5 hours crying and by then she's so worked up and overtired that the poor love doesn't know what to do with herself! If only we could tell our babies what we know is best for them at the time, lol.

Oh and as for controlled crying, i love it. During the day if she wont settle it's into the cot with her and let her cry herself to sleep. I have learned the difference in her cries between a 'im sleepy and im going to sleep' cry and a 'get me out this damm cot' cry. I'm starting to think that she just prefers it in her cot as i have her in that in her room during the day and in the moses basket in our room during the night. I'm thinking about putting her in there all the time but as she's a tummy sleeper (naughty i know) im not sure if i want to risk it.

xxx